Apparatus for reclaiming lubricating oils



Dec. l, 1931. w. SCHWALGE APPARATUS FOR RECLAIMING LUBRICATING OILS Filed June 26, 1930 PatentedA Dec. 1, 1931 WILLIAM SCHWALGE, OF ELMHURST, ILLINOIS APPARATUS FOR RECLAIMING LUBRICATING- OILS Application led June 26,

The invention relates to ap aratus for reclaiming lubricating oils, an more particularly to apparatus for re-claiming or purifying lubricating oils that have been employed in internal combustion engines, or the like.

Lubricants that have been employed in internal combustionengines, are, as a rule, diluted by gasoline, etc., and carry in suspension solids which discolor them.

One form of the invention is embodied in apparatus which comprises a housing into the lower end of which lubricant that is to be `re-claimed is introduced under pressure, the construction being such that the lubricant Hows upwards in the housing through filtering material and .thence into a receptacle filled with filtering material, and provided with a foraminous bottom wall wh1ch preferably rests on fibrous filtering material. The fibrous filtering material is supported by a baffle plate positioned at the upper end of a tubular member having foraminous side walls.

The fibrous filtering material co-operates with the baiile plate to distribute the lubricant substantially evenly at the top end of the tubular member so that it will gravitate downwards in small streams on the oraminous walls of the tubular member. Means is provided for causing a iiow of heated air through the foraminous walls to evaporate the gasolene in the small streams of lubricant flowing thereon, the temperature of the heated air being preferably less than the flashpoint of the gasoline. The gasoline passes from the housing with the heated alr. The purified lubricant is withdrawn from the bottom portion of the housing.

A feature of this invention is that the heated air is employed to heat the lubricant before and as it passed through the filtering material. This preheating of the lubricant combined with my improved method of dividing the lubricant into Iine streams by evaporating the gasoline insures that the apparatus will have a large capacity with respect to its size, but my invention is limited to this combination only to the extent indicated in the appended claims.

Many other objects and advantages .will

1930. Serial No. 463,986.

appear as this description progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is aside elevation of apparatus which embodies my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical central section taken giroulgh the improved apparatus shown in ig. 3 is a section taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4 4 of ferring to the drawings, wherein I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be noted that the apparatus comprises a housing 10 which preferably consists of a bottom wall 11, a cylindrical side wall 12, and a removable to wall, or cap, 13, the 4cap 13 being provided with a flue 14. For convenience, the housing- 10 is preferably mounted upon a plurality of legs 15.

Disposed concentrally within the housing 10 and extending from the bottom wall 11 to adjacent the cap 13 is a cylindrical partition wall 17 which cooperates with the wall 12 to provide an annular chamber 18 extending from the bottom wall 11 to the upper end of the partition 17 the construction being such that the annular chamber 18 communicates with the iiue 14.

A quantity of filtering material 20 is provided in the upper end of the annular chamber 18, the filtering material 20 being held between the wall 12 and the partition 17 and between foraminous annular members 22 and 23, the foraminous member 23 being preferably supported by angle irons 25 and 26 secured to the wall 12 and the partition 17, respec-tively. Any suitable filtering material, such as cotton-waste, mineral wool, or the equivalent, may be used as the filtering material 20.

Lubricant which is to be re-claimed or purified is introduced into the cha1 .ber 18 through a pipe 28 communicating vith the lower 'end of the chamber, the pipe 28 beingl arranged to discharge lubricant in the chamber from a receptacle (not shown) positioned above the housing 10. This arrangement insures that the lubricant will ilow into the chamber 18 under pressure and will flow upwards therein through the ltering mate-l rial 20 which removes solids held in suspension in the lubricant. The pipe 28 is preferably provided with a valve 29 so that the flow of lubricant to the housing may be interrupted when it is sol desired.

Projecting through the upper end of the partition wall 18 at a point above the filter- 'lng material 22 is a pipe 30, whereby the lubricant may flow from the chamber 18 to be discharged in a receptacle 32 which preferably comprises a cylindrical wall 33 arranged concentrically within the partition wall 17 The receptacle 32 also comprises a foraminous bottom wall 34. It will be noted that the outer diameter of the cylindrical wall 33 is less than the inner diameter of the partition wall 17 so that an annular passage 35 is provided between these walls, which annular passage 35 communicates with the flue 14. The annular passage 35 extends downwards to the bottom wall 11, the lower end of which being formed between the partition wall 17 and a cylindrical foraminous tube 38 which extends from the bottom wall 11 to a point intermediate the top and bottom ends of the receptacle 32. Secured in the upper end material 43 preferably supports, in turn, a'

quantity of filtering material 44 which preferably comprises cotton-waste, or the equivalent. It may be mentioned, that in some instances, I may omit the filtering material 43, or may employ other filtering materials in place of fullers-earth at this point.

rlhe filtering material 41 spaces the lower edge of the cylindrical wall 33 from the baffie plate 39 so that lubricant discharged into the receptacle 32 may flow through the filtering materials 44, 43 and 41' out on the flaring -flange and thence downwards on the foraminous tube 38. The fibrous material 41 co-operate's with the baffle plate 39 to distribute the lubricant evenly on the top portion of theforaminous tubular member 38, and the foraminous tubular member 38 causes the lubricant to divide into extremely small streams. The gasolene, and water, in these fine streams is evaporated by air which Hows through the interstices of the foraminous tube 38 and the heated air with the gasolene, water, etc., is discharged from the housing through the annular passage 35 and the flue 14. l

The air is preferably heated to a temperature'less than the flash temperature of the gasolene. In practice, I preferably heat the air to a temperature of approximately 235 The purified lubricant collects at the bottom of the housing in an annular chamber formed between the inner surface of the partition wallp 17 and the outer wall and the outerywall of "atubular member 45 which projects upwards from the bottom wall 11 and is based concentrically within the lower end of the foraminous tube 38. The lubricant maybe withdrawn from the annular vchamber through a pipe 46 which projects through the bottom wall 11 and extends into the collecting chamber a distance less than the height of the tubular member 45.

A perforated tube 50 supported by the bottom wall 11 and of smaller diameter than the tubular member 45 is positioned concentrically with respect to the tubular member 45 and extends thereabove. The upper end of the perforated tube 50 is closed by an imperforate cap or baffle member 51 of relatively large diameter, the ,function of the bafe member 51 being to prevent lubricant, etc. from flowing into the tube 50 through the perforations therein. The tube 50 houses an electrical heating element 53 which is supported upon the bottom wall 11, the bottom wall 11 being provided with perforations 54 within the area defined by the tube 50 so that air may flow upwards into the tube 50 past the heating;- element 53, and thence through the perforations in the tubes 50 and 38 to the annular passage 35 which communicates with the flue 14.

The foraminous tube 38 may be made of any suitable material. Thus, I have shown it constructed of sheet metal which is provided with numerous small perforations. However, I contemplate constructing the foraminous tube 38 of a; wire mesh, in some instances.

Pet-cocks 56 and 57 secured to the bottom wall 11 communicate with the ,collecting chamber and with the annular chamber 18, respectively, to permit withdrawal of lubricant from these chambers when it is so desired.

It will be noted that the tubular member 45 preventstthe heating element' 53 from directly heating the lower ends ofthe foraminous tube 38 and the partition wall 17 so that these parts will not be heated to an undesirable temperature. However, the air heated by the heating element 53 heats the lubricant fiowing in the annular chamber 18 by conduction through the partition wall 17, it being readilyunderstood that the filtering maf terials in the annular chamber 18 and in the receptacle 32 are also heated in a like manner. This arrangement causes some of the gasolene, etc. to evaporate before the lubricant passes through the receptacle 32, the gasolene, etc. thus evaporated being carried off through the flue 14 4by the heated air.

While I have shown and described certain embodiments of my invention it is to be un-l d erstood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in the appended claims, in which it is my intention to claim all novelty inherent in my invention as broadly as possible in view of .the prior art. l What I claim as'new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

.1.Appa-ratus of the kind described comprising filtering means, a foraminous mei bei' disposed beneath said filtering means and adapted to receive oil flowing therefrom, and means for heating said oil as it flows over said foraminous member.

@Apparatus of the kind described com* prising filtering means, a foraminous member disposed beneath said filtering means and adapted to receive oil fiowing therefrom, and means for causing a flow of heated air through said foraminous member.

3. pparatus of the kind described coinprising a housing, a partition wall in said housing, said partition and said housing .forming a chamber therebetween, means for introducing Lwaste lubricatino oil into the bottom end of said chamber, filtering means disposed in said chamber, foraminous means over which oil flows after passing through said filtering means, and means for causing a iow of heated air over said foraminous means.

@Apparatus of the kind described comprising a housing, a partition wall in said housing, said partition and said housing forming a chamber therebetween, means for introducing waste lubricating oil into the bottom end of said chamber, filtering means J- disposed in said chamber, foraminous means over which oil flows after passing through said filtering means, and means for causing a iiow of heated air through said foraminous means. s

5. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a receptacle having a foraminous bottom wall, filtering material in said receptacle, a foraminous member .forming an enclosure extending below said receptacles, a

baie plate in said foraminous member, iilter- I ing material supported by said baffle plate, said last-mentioned filtering material supporting said foraminous bottom wall, and means for causing a flow of heated air through said foraminous member. v

6. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a housing, a tubular partition wall positioned in said housing and co-operating therewith to form an annular chamber, -means for introducing waste lubricating oil into the lower end of said chamber, a tubular annular foraminous member positioned within said tubular partition wall, and means for causinga flow of heated air through said tubular foraminous member.

7. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a housing, a tubular partition wall positioned in said housing and co-operating therewith to form' an annular chamber, means for introducing waste lubricating oil into the lower end of said chamber, filtering means in said chamber, a tubulai` annularyforaminous member positioned within said tubular partition wall,'and means for causin a flow of heated air through said tubula: .oraminous member.

8. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a housing, a tubular partition wall in said housing, said partition wall co-operating with said housing to form an annulaichamber, means for introducing waste lubricating oil into said chamber, a tubular foraminous member positioned withinsaid tubular partition wall and cooperating therewith to form an annular passage, and means for causing a flow of heated air through said annular passage.

9. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a housing, a tubular partition wall positioned ,in said housing and cooperating therewith to form an annular chamber, means for introducing lubricating oil into said chamber, a receptacle positioned within said tubular partition wall and provided with a foraminous bottom, filtering material in said receptacle, a tubular foraminous member-extending below said rece tacle, and heating means for causing a throughsaid foraminous member.

10. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a housing having a perforated bottom wall, a tubular partition wall positioned in said housin and cooperating therewith to form an annu ar chamber, means for introducing waste lubricatin oil into the lower end of said chamber, dltering material in said chamber, a receptacle positioned within said tubular partition wall and provided with a foraminous portion, filtering material in said receptacle, a tubular foraminous member extending below said receptacle, heating means, and perforated means enclosing said ow of heated air heating means, said perforated means being disposed 'within said tubular foraminous member.

11. Apparatusof the kind described comprising a vertically disposed foraminous member forming an enclosure, means surrounding said foraminous member and cooperating therewith to form' a stack through `which gases may escape from the apparatus,

a perforated member disposed within said foraminous member, means disposed within said perforatedI member for heating air which passes through said perforated member and said foraminous member .to said I. stack, and means for delivering oil to said foraminous member. n

12. .Apparatus of the kind described comprising a vertically disposed foraminous member forming an enclosure, means surrounding said foraminous member and c0- operating therewithto form a stack through which gases may escape from the apparatus, a perforated member disposed within said foraminous member, means disposed within said perforated member for heating air which passes through said perforated member, and filtering means for delivering oil to said foraminous member.

13. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a vertically disposed foraminous member forming an enclosure, means surrounding said foraminous member and cooperating therewith to form a stack through which gases may escape from the apparatus,

- a perforated member disposed Within said foraminous member, means disposed within said perforated member f-or heating air which passes through said perforated member, means for delivering oil to said fora-minous member, and an over-flow tube disposed within said foraminous member.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature, this 10th day of J une, 1930.

wiLLiAM scri-Waren 

